Indian Judicial System

Yesterday in Delhi’s Patiala House Court, a person tried to stab Magistrate as his case for compensation is long due in the Court of Law. And he is happy to be imprisoned, as atleast he will have something to eat… which was difficult to manage outside. As being handicapped, he was terminated from service after the accident.

The incident again points to the slow judicial procedures, as courts are over-burdened with the cases. The position is the same from the Supreme Court to the lowest court. The reason for over-accumulation is due to lack of number of magistrates and courts.

As per the statistics, in Supreme Court there were more than 25,000 pending cases and around 32 Lakh cases in High Courts all over India. And ofcourse, the cases pending in Subordinate courts are in Crores (more than three crores)

An that’s the reason, it takes atleast 4-5 years for a case to be decided and in some cases next generations are fighting over the same matter. In a case reported recently, which was registered in 1976 on grounds of cheating, was finally decided in 2004, after 28 years. The case took 14 years each in a lower court and Additional Session Judge court respectively. In another case, by the time, case was decided, the person to be imprisoned was 107 years of age. And instead of jail, he was put into hospital.

It is worth mentioning here, lawyer are unnecesary blamed for delay in cases. 😀 But the truth remains, no way a court can decide more than 2-3 pending cases in a day. In others, only some interim orders are made. Though in a day, 50-60 new cases are listed with High Courts. In this way, the cases continue to pile up.

As per recommendation by some committee, more judges were required to be appointed per 1,000 population. But it has not been done so far. Though around 5,000 vacancies are available in different courts all over India. For the same purpose, a organisaton “Common Cause” has filed Public Interest Litigaton. It is pending too 😉

Though some steps are being taken in this direction, and amount has already been sanctioned for establishment of more courts. In Delhi itself, four new district courts have already been constructed and they will start functioning soon:!: